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The “New Statistics” on the Vocabulary Level

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Book cover The Advanced Theory of Language as Choice and Chance

Part of the book series: Kommunikation und Kybernetik in Einzeldarstellungen ((COMMUNICATION,volume 4))

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Abstract

Our analysis makes us see the universe of vocabulary in a new light. As we know, the parameters used for characterising a typical statistical universe, such as the Mean and the Standard Deviation, are no use for the frequency distribution of vocabulary, because they change with sample size. However, for the universe of vocabulary it was found that the coefficient of variation of the mean, v m , was sensibly independent of the sample size, and therefore could serve the purpose of characterising the vocabulary distribution. The corresponding parameter in the universe of vocabulary is the Repeat Rate, as whose sampling value we must regard v m 2.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bristol, USA

    Gustav Herdan M. Sc., Ph. D., LL. D.

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  1. Gustav Herdan M. Sc., Ph. D., LL. D.
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© 1966 Springer-Verlag Berlin · Heidelberg

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Herdan, G. (1966). The “New Statistics” on the Vocabulary Level. In: The Advanced Theory of Language as Choice and Chance. Kommunikation und Kybernetik in Einzeldarstellungen, vol 4. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-88388-0_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-88388-0_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-88390-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-88388-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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